PAHO confirmed the presence of the omicron variant in nine countries in the Americas

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said Wednesday that the omniron variant has been detected in nine countries and territories in the Americas, and said that so far the delta is the predominant in the region. The ómicron variant has been detected in nine countries and territories in our region: usa, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Cuba, the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and Bermuda,” PAHO’s COVID-19 Incident Manager Sylvain Aldighieri said at PAHO’s weekly press conference. He explained that ómicron has been detected “mainly as a result of travel,” and admitted that data on community transmission “are very limited” in the region. In this context, he pointed out that the delta “continues to be the prevailing one in all the subregions of the Americas.” Given the fear that the new variant has awakened, the official considered it “necessary” to take into account that an increase in infections “is due to a multifactorial process.” The circulation of variants is just one of these factors and may not be the most important,” he said. Regardless of the circulating variants, Aldighieri called for following “all public health measures” put in place to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, including social distancing, the systematic use of masks in closed places and vaccination. The official confirmed that the Americas has a genomic surveillance network made up of seven regional reference laboratories covering North America, Central America, South America and the Caribbean.” Countries have the power to confirm, ask for support through the network for the detection of variants of concern, variants of interest, including the ómicron variant,” he said.

Original source in Spanish